Tuesday, December 4, 2018

The Candles of the Menorah by Tzvi Avraham

The Candles of the Menorah

by Tzvi Avraham

Chanukah is a good time to ponder the meaning of the Menorah in the Temple, both because the eight   Chanukah lights commemorate a miracle that happened to the seven branched Menorahת and because of the profound connection between the two suggested by the midrash cited by Rashi[i] that when Aharon was distressed by not participating in the offerings of the Nasiim at the initiation of the Ohel Moed, Hashem consoled him telling him that he was destined to something greater: the mitzvah  of the Menorah, which the Ramban explains was intended to suggest the Chanukah Menorah.

The Midrah Tidasheh of R. Chaninah ben Dusah[ii]   describing  how the entire creation is suggested by features and kalim of  the  Beis Hamikdosh, tells us that the 7 candles of the Menorah are identified correspond to the seven planets, i.e., the seven planets visible without a telescope known in ancient times: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon.   (The ancients numbered the Sun and the Moon among the planets.)  That interpretation is also found in the Targum Yonasan.[iii]  

The medieval Castilian mekubal Yosef Gikitilia also  mentions it in his sefer Ginas Egoz[iv] while declaring, in keeping with midrashim and the opinions of most Rishonim, including Rabbeinu Elazar Hagadol, Harokeach, the Ramban[v], the Nimukei Yosef[vi], the Ran[vii]  among others that  “without a doubt,” the influence of  planets governs the world subject to Hashem’s supervision and control.     The seven candles, he tells us,  correspond to the seven planets,  and he invites  the reader to ponder their deeper meaning.  Let’s take up that task  tonight, because we have help at hand:  the interpretation of the planets which  Rabbeinu Elazar Hagadol, the Rokeach, gives in his commentary on Sefer Yetzirah.

Everyone knows that Avraham Avinu was an astrologer.  It’s even mentioned by  Rishonim as a decisive justification of astrology. So it’s no surprise that Sefer Yetzirah, which was written by Avraham Avinu, has a considerable astrological content. In the fourth chapter, which discusses the creation of the planets, the Rokeach gives us his interpretation of the planets while explaining  why each is assigned  to rule its specific day and night of the week.  His discussion of the planets complements the   considerable and detailed astrological science in his magnum opus, Sod Razei.  His astrological science is substantially the same as the Ibn Ezra’s – (Ibn Ezra  was a renowned astrologer and wrote 12 treatises on astrology, some of which were translated into Latin and had a profound impact on the western tradition of astrology.) but  his interpretations express  ancient traditions transmitted to him through  his Rebbe, R’ Yehudah HaChasid, his father, R. Yehudah b’rebbe Kolonimus -  (so he tells us in his introduction to Sodei Razei and at the end of his commentary on Sefer Yetzirah) -  a kabalistic tradition which flowered in the 12th and 13thcenturies in Germany which we now call  Chissidus Ashkenaz.


Saturn[viii], he tells us, is, as all agreed, the most distant of the planets.  The ancient and medieval astrologers used the terms  hot and cold, wet and dry when they described the nature of the planets, and Saturn, all agreed, is cold and dry.  But the Rokeach explains why. Saturn is located just below the upper waters that are cold to protect the world from the heat of the angelic worlds above them.  That cold is what makes him cold.  Dry?  He leaves that to us, but its pretty clear to me:  His dryness is his thirst:  he thirsts to know the world above the upper waters, and, for that reason, has little interest in worldly matters and tends to exercise his  typically  “gvuradik” influence  that would induce us to turn from them to higher things. Saturn, the Rokeach adds, is Moshe Rabbeinu.

Jupiter is the next planet, just below Saturn. He is moderately warm and moderately moist, i.e., he has the qualities that promote life and virtue.  He is universally identified with all the endeavors and institutions that promote prosperity and express the dignity of man.  I like to think of Jupiter as turning the vision of Saturn into the  spiritual ideals  that bring dignity and prosperity to all who live by them.  And I think that the Rokeach would agree, for he identifies Jupiter with Moshe’s brother, Aharon Hakohen, Kohen Gadol  and celebrated for his compassion and pursuit of peace.  He personifies  the dignity of man in the service of Hashem. 

After Jupiter, Mars.  Mars is what we’d expect Mars to be, and what he is for Chazal:   choleric, inclined to violence  and aggression:  the spirit of the soldier. But also the virtues of the soldier:  the obedience, courage, persistence determination, decisiveness. And  we need that, for that’s the kind of strength it takes to fulfill the ideals of Jupiter in this dark and chaotic world.   Mars, the Rokeach tells us,  is David Hamelech and the spirit of the Moshiach.

After Mars, the Sun. 
The Sun is malchus, but not just any malchus, for three letters of Hashem’s name are inscribed on him. He is the proximal source of  the warmth that sustains life and light that bestows sight, which is why he rules the first hour of the erev yom chimishi, when animals of all kinds were created.[ix]  We might think of the light of the Sun as the shadow  of Hashem’s Majesty.

Just below the Sun: Venus.  The Rokeach’s description of Venus might be summarized as:  the love of life that Hashem brings forth through the heat and light of the Sun.  L’chaim!

Below Venus:  Mercury.   Every night of the week is ruled by one of the planets. Mercury rules Motzei Shabbos, erev yom rishon, the Rokeach tells us,  because Mercury represents the chochmah with which Hashem created the world on the evening following the Shabbos that preceded the creation of the world.   

And then the Moon, who governs  leyl vav, i.e., Thursday night, because the Moon has the power to incline the heart to good or to evil, and it was then that Hashem thought of creating man with the freedom to do good and evil.[x]   That is,  the Moon which moves to good or evil also represents the freedom human beings have to choose to do good or to choose to do evil, for “just as Hashem gave power and dominion to the planets to exercise a good or evil influence, He gave power and dominion to man to subdue his natural impulses, and do what is good and right in the eyes of Hashem.” [xi]

The Rokeach tells us that the planets govern the entire natural order, even the heart—but not the will, and what he  describes, with his interpretation of the planets, are the seven   principles that govern the created world and the heart (though not the will) of man, for whom the world was created. 

1.  The spiritual longing to know the truths of Heaven and the joy of the angels—i.e., the Love of Hashem  that makes it hard for a person to see any value in the pleasures of this world—Saturn
2.  The ideals which move us to live in this world in a way that is worthy of that vision—Jupiter
3.  The determination and drive to implement those ideals against the resistance of the dark forces that resist them--Mars
4.  The creative force which brings forth the life of this world in which Hashem so delights—the Sun
5.  Delight in this life brought forth by Hashem as a gift to all creatures—Venus
6.  The understanding of world--the understanding of life--that empowers us to use the world and manage our lives to fulfill the Divine purpose of creation—Mercury
7. The freedom of will which introduces responsibility, merit, the possibility of sin,  and the powers of darkness with which man must contend—the Moon

Even more succinctly:
1.  The yearning to be close to Hashem – Saturn
2.  The ideals and moral standards inspired by that yearning – Jupiter
3. The determination to implement those ideals - Mars
4.  The creativity that brings forth a world  in which those ideals are to be realized – the Sun
5.  Delight in that world as a gift from Hashem – Venus
6.  The wisdom and discernment that enables a person to use that world to serve its divinely ordained purpose -  Mercury
7.  The moral freedom which gives meaning and purpose  to the operations of these principles – the Moon

I’ve described these seven principles as spiritual forces while identifying them with the planets. That may be confusing: do they govern the heart or  do they govern the world? 

The answer is that they are the powers which are the essential expression  of  created existence  itself.  Man is a microcosm:  the powers which are the essential expression of created existence are the very same powers which govern his human nature. 

These are spiritual powers (matter is governed by spirit) and spiritual powers are not mediated by things that are merely physical.  There’s no reason to think that the Rokeach would take issue with  Rambam’s description of the planets in Hilchos Yesodei Hatorah (3:9):  They are
  
בעלי נפש ודעה והשכל הם והם חיים ועומדים ומכירין את מי שאמר והיה העולם כל אחד ואחד לפי גדלו ולפי מעלתו משבחים ומפארים ליוצרם כמו המלאכים וכשם שמכירין הקדוש ברוך הוא כך מכירין את עצמן ומכירין את המלאכים שלמעלה מהן ודעת הכוכבים והגלגלים מעוטה מדעת המלאכים וגדולה מדעת בני אדם


Clearly, the planets are good.  There is nothing evil in them.   Nevertheless, according to the Rokeach, the Ibn Ezra and all medieval astrologers,  planetary influences can be  destructive and even evil, according to their locations in the heavenly sphere and relations to each other.  The otherworldliness of Saturn can turn into world rejection;  the dignity of Jupiter into arrogance;  the martial spirit of David into cruelty and hatred;  the light and heat of the sun that brings forth life can also destroy it.

Jeremiah tells the people (10:2)

ב כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה, אֶל-דֶּרֶךְ הַגּוֹיִם אַל-תִּלְמָדוּ, וּמֵאֹתוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם, אַל-תֵּחָתּוּ:  כִּי-יֵחַתּוּ הַגּוֹיִם, מֵהֵמָּה

Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them.

Why should they not fear them?  The Malbim explains, the pagan nations are subject to the influence of the planets, but not you, for so long as you are live true to the ways of Hashem, You are governed by Him, and He will intervene to moderate their influence in accordance with his judgment. 

How then, can they exercise an evil, destructive influence?

The Rokeach explains Divine government through the planets, and the Maggid of Mezritch, as the Bnei  Yisaschar summarizes his doctrine,  says substantially the same thing[xii]:  When Hashem created the world, He surveyed the entire history of man, and ordained from the very beginning the way each person’s life would be directed according to his nature.  So long as  person conducts himself according to his nature, doing averas when he is, by nature, so inclined, and doing mitzvahs insofar as he is, by nature, so inclined, he will live subject to the Divine Government Hashem  established b’maaseh b’reishis when, knowing his nature and foreseeing his behaviour, Hashem  placed the planets in their orbits to be located and to interact in a way which subjects him to the appropriate governing  influence, presumably an influence that would subject him to experiences that would move him to take his life in hand and make the effort to serve Hashem for which he was created.

For Hashem created us to do teshuvah, i.e., to do more than what we are inclined by nature to do to serve Him.    Clearly, when a person fails to do that, he needs a push, perhaps even a shock (though, of course, sometimes he needs is an extra measure of chesed).  That push or shock will likely come in the form of an existential challenge, perhaps even a crisis, which lifts him out the indifference of a person who serves Hashem according to the flow of his inclinations.   What is called the evil influences of the planets is the gevurah that causes that to happen, the experience of gevurah that awakens a person to teshuvah.

Hashem foresaw the need for that gevurah, and programmed it into the revolutions of the planets, so that each one of us would get a taste of it as it would be required.  But when the time comes, if Hashem sees that a person doesn’t need to be treated with gevurah, that  he doesn’t need a shock to awaken him, He protects him from it and moderates the gevurah the planets would have exercised, or turns it into achesed.  With that in mind, let’s consider the mitzvah of lighting the Temple Menorah.

In Temple times, when a person did teshuvah for an averah, he would typically bring a korban.  The animal that was shechted and burned on the altar represented the body of the one who brought it, the repository of his natural inclinations and evil inclinations which moved him to sin. The act of sacrifice  gave them up to the will of Hashem, subordinated his natural impulses and willfulness to the Will of the Creator and King.   

The kohen’s role of setting up the wicks and filling the cups with oil is comparable to his role of performing the physical part  of offering  a sacrifice.  Only he can set the flesh of the sacrifice  on fire—place it onto the fire burning on the altar – because the purpose of that fire is to extract from the flesh the pleasing fragrance that ascends to Hashem. His act symbolically purified the body that had served the sinful will of the person who brought the sacrifice. He was the instrument of that symbolic purification.

But that sacrifice had to be lit, as a candle is lit, with another fire before the sacrifice would find favor:  the fire that purifies a sinful will. That fire, of course, is the teshuvah that ignites the heart with the glowing ember of a burning soul,  so that it bursts into flame as it beholds the Light of Truth and Goodness.  Even a Yisrael--the one who brought that sacrifice for his sin - could light that fire.

Each candle corresponds to one of the planets, one of the seven fundamental forces that are the essential expression of created existence – nature—coordinated, orchestrated by Hashem b’ma’aseh breishis to  govern the lives of every Jew who acts as he is naturally inclined, whether to do mitzvos or to do averos.   
Lighting the candles (which is not an avodah and can be done by any Jew)  is comparable to the interior act of  teshuvah which ignites the heart with a Light which transforms it, inspires and guides it to a love for Hashem that serves Him without consideration of natural inclinations.

The purpose of burning the oil is not to offer a pleasing fragrance to Hashem – if it were, it would be an avodah that only a Kohen may do—but rather to produce a fire and light like the fire and light which inspire the heart to teshuvah when bringing a sacrifice.  That fire is the flame of the Glory that governs all those who proclaim it, governing them directly,  setting aside the order of Divine government that operates through the planets which the candles represent.  That Light, concealed in the oil, is now revealed, that all may know and be assured:  אין עוד מלבדו  … השם הוא האלוקים!
   
The candles of the Menorah burned from evening to the morning with one exception:  the Ner Ma’aravi, which was to be kept burning throughout the day, relit in the morning if it had gone out.  But during the Kehunah Gedolah of  Shimeon Hatzaddik, the Ner Hama’aravinever went out.  It always miraculously continued to burn straight though from evening to the evening of the next day.  The merit of Shimeon Hatzaddik was so great, that the Ner Ma’aravi didn’t have to be relit in the morning.  Hashem kept it lit it for us.  That was the miracle of the Ner Ma’aravi.

Which of the seven candles was the Ner Ma’aravi? There are three opinions:  It was the first candle of the Menorah closest to the Kodesh Hakadoshim;  the middle candle, or the second from the candle furthest east.  Each of these candles represented a different planet. Applying the Rokeach’s explanation of their meaning, we might interpret this machlokes  as a disagreement in Hashem’s response to the merit of Shimeon Hatzaddik. 

The first candle would correspond to the first planet, Saturn.  If the miracle occurred on the first candle, i.e., if Hashem sustained the light of the first candle, it would mean that Hashem responded to Shimeon Hatzaddik’s merit with a gift of what Saturn, i.e., Moshe, would give us:  a gift of Torah, by  bestowing an extra measure of the Light of Torah on his generation

The middle candle corresponds to the Sun.  If Hashem kindled the middle candle, it would mean that Hashem responded to Shimeon Hatzaddik’s merit with a gift of what the  Sun represents:  the Light of His Presence  and Majesty.

The second to the last candle corresponds to the Mercury.  If Hashem kindled that second candle, it would mean that Hashem responded to Shimeon Hatzaddik’s merit with a gift of what the  Mercury represents:  the knowledge, insight and discernment that enables us to order our lives and create the things through which we live in the ways that best serve the ultimate purpose of our lives:  avodas Hashem.

The miracle of Chanukah was that Hashem kept all seven candles lit for eight days—a miracle much like the miracle of the Ner Ma’aravi in Shimeon Hatzaddik’s time. Shimeon Hatzaddik’s tzidkus  was such a great testimony to  Hashem’s Malchus, that once the Ner Ma’avi was lit, Hashem kept it lit as a proclamation of His Malchus: His rule over the planet which the Ner Ma’aravi represented, and with that the assurance that the active principle it mediated would be implemented by Him to maximize the welfare of Klal Yisrael.

The miracle we celebrate when lighting the Chanukah Menorah was similar, only on a much greater scale corresponding to the much greater scale of the declaration of Hashem’s Malchus by the m’sirus nefesh of the Maccabim.  It was dramatic demonstration that when we kindle our hearts with the Light of Torah and  turn ourselves to Hashem, He turns to us and keeps those Lights burning, doing for us far more than what we could do for ourselves: for when we transform ourselves for Hashem,  He transforms the world for us.




[i] במדבר ח:א
[ii]   Perek 1
[iii] סדר פקודי מ"ג
[iv] הוצאות ישיבת החיים והשלום תשמ"ט דף רלז
[v] See, for example, his commentary on the name א-ל ש-די (בראשית יז:א)
[vi] טור קעט
[vii] See the eighth and eleventh droshos in דרשות הר"ן
[viii] The following interpretations of planets are found in his commentary on Sefer Yetzirah, esp.  on pages 48-52
[ix] SY 52
[x] SY 52
[xi] Commentary on SY 71
[xii]  See ספר בני יששכר מאמרי ר"ח מאמר א'

Friday, September 21, 2018

Kenes in Bene Brak


ישורון
בית הכנסת כמנהג אשכנז
רחוב הרב בן יעקב 25 ב"ב



ביום חמישי י"ח תשרי
ידרוש בין מנחה למעריב
מורנו הרב בנימין שלמה המבורגר שליט"א
זמני התפלות
מנחה                       6:00
מעריב                      7:15
לאחר מעריב זמירות לכבוד המועד


Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Fascinating Dvar Torah from Beit Shemesh Yekke Minyan Member R' Tzvi Abraham

Parshas Masai

After R. Shimeon had spent twelve years in a cave  contemplating the Majesty of Hashem, he went forth into the world.  He was shocked and pained by what he saw:  people ignoring the Majesty that had filled his dark cave  with Light  in order  to farm, weave, cook, and do all the little things that are needed to sustain the body.  Wherever he looked, people  were neglecting the contemplation of the Eternal for the sake of chayai sha'ah (the needs of the body in the short time we spend in this world).   His eye set fire to everything it saw.
Back to the cave!  Hashem commanded.  Have you left  the cave to destroy My world?
What did R. Shimeon learn during that second term in the cave?
Perhaps, after ascending to a glorious vision of Hashem’s Majesty,  he had to ascend even higher to appreciate the depth of His Humility and love for  the world. And so he was sent back in to the cave where his Spirit wandered through the Mysteries of Hashem's many worlds, until he realized how important they were to Him, though  compared to Him, they were virtually nothing.  Indeed, we could well imagine that R. Shimeon spent his many years in the cave moving through those worlds with hardly an eye for them--seeking only to know Hashem as He revealed Himself through them.
We were sent to back into the desert from the very threshold of Eretz Yisrael, the point from which we were to begin our conquest.
We had seen so many faces of Hashem's Majesty:  In Egypt, at Mt. Sinai, in pillars of fire and clouds of glory. We were so filled with the vision of His Majesty that we did not realize that,  in the living the presence of that Majesty, we were transformed, instilled with a  dignity and spiritual power no nation ever had or ever will. We so nullified ourselves before Hashem’s Glory,  that we had no awareness of the Divine Humility that moved Hashem to bestow something of that power upon us. 
We were no longer slaves, so  it was fitting that, when confronted by an enemy, we participate in the fighting.  But Hashem knew our sense of weakness;  He knew that we would be frightened by the prospect of war, so on our way out of Egypt, Hashem took us the long way just to avoid  a confrontation with the Pelishtim. We would have fled back to Egypt! 
 Rashi tells us that Moshe sent  spies into the land  at the request of Bnei Yisrael.  The Ibn Ezra points out that, in retelling the  story of the spies in Sefer Devarim, Moshe adds a detail we don't see it parshas Shlach:  Hashem had said, aleh reish, go forth and inherit [the land]. The people, it seems, assumed that the conquest of the land would depend largely on their prowess and military strength.  And so,   they sent out spies. And when the spies returned with the message that “The Canaanites are much stronger than we are, a race of giants.  Look at the amazing foods they eat!”  the people collapsed in fear, for they had no idea that their vision of Hashem's strength and the faith that followed Him into the desert had made them stronger, suffused them with something of the power that had defeated Egypt, and that it would  work through them, manifest itself from within them  to assist them after the manner of hidden miracles. And so, faced with the prospect of fighting a people that seemed to possess all the powers nature could bestow, they crumbled, unaware that they had at their disposal all the powers that Hashem, the Creator of nature, could bestow.
What was their sin?  Why was Hashem, who had been so indulgent of their fear of the P’lishtim, so angered by their fear of the Canaanim?  Why did He send them back into the desert to wander for forty years and raise a new generation?
Because now they had the Torah.  Now they were keeping the commandments,  and when a Jew keeps Hashem's commandments with all his heart and all his strength, he discovers  within himself  a strength that is greater than his own, an indwelling of a spiritual strength and source of  courage that could only be a gift of Hashem.
What, then, was the guilt of the people?  If they had served Him as they should, with all their heart and all their strength, they would know the indwelling of a spiritual strength that would give them the confidence to face even giants, like David, who   fought Goliath without fear.
In short, they lacked the trust in Hashem – the bitachon – they would have had if they had served Him as they should have, not only the bitachon that trusts Hashem to help in matters beyond our control (they had seen Hashem do that, when He liberated them from Egypt), but also the trust that Hashem instills the inner strength required to cope with whatever trials He sets before us. 
That bitachon, that trusts in Hashem to instill   the strength to cope with life’s trials, was harder for them, not only because they had not seen it, as they  had witnessed Hashem  subdue Egypt  with His Majestic Power, but also because it requires a recognition of the Divine Humility that imparts something of its own glory and power into the soul of man, a power he can exercise to face the trials of this world, the difficulties that face him in managing the challenges of chaya sha’ah.   In that respect,  we might compare the shortcoming of the generation that was sent back to journey in the desert to the shortcoming of R. Shimeon that required him to go back to his cave.   R. Shimeon had to update his recognition of Hashem’s Humility—His love  for the world-- to match the profoundly deepened vision of Hashem’s Majesty which he (R. Shimeon) had achieved while withdrawn from the world.   The Children of Israel awaken to the empowering gift   that Hashem bestows on those who serve Him, something of His own power with which He blesses those who cling to Him,  after having nullified themselves before the Divine Majesty  they had witness in Egypt and at Mt. Sinai.  Forty years of coping with the trials of living the desert  would do that.  They would discover their new strength, and know its true Source: their devotion to  Hashem, watching over and present among them.  

R' Tzvi Abraham